The Compass and Map
by Jirubee
Summary: A oneshot ficlet written to Passenger's 'The Last Unicorn.'    They sat with their backs turned to one another as they sat on the bed. They both knew why they were here, and the only comfort was to be lost in someone's arms. M for non-gratutious citrus.


I do not own InuYasha or affliated characters. Nor do I can any form of fianacial gain from writing this free fanfiction.

AN; I was listening to The Last Unicorn by Passenger (it is on Youtube, my link didn't work out so well,) and had to write this short piece.

I would suggest listening to the song while reading to get the emotional value out of it. It's a lovely, lovely song. I hope that you enjoyed this.

It just popped into my head and begged to be written. Feedback is appreciated, never expected.

- Jiru

Low yellow light reflected off creamy walls only to be absorbed by the heavy drapery that hung along the window. It held out the night, keeping it from creeping into the small room. The two bodies, sitting with their backs in defense to one another, stared vacantly at the coffee pot on a counter, and a round lacquered table.

The lines around their eyes drew dark shaded circles. The woman used to have such life in her gray eyes. Her heart was broken by a man she had loved so wholy. He had chosen another path and left her heart, or absence there of, gaping and wounded like a small animal.

The man opposite her, ruffled a hand through his short hair, leaving the tempest to do her worst. He had been a womanizer and lost the only woman he ever loved to a man from another side of the country.

The sea of lonliness hadn't been kind to either of them. Aging their youthful skin to a middle-aged template. Kagome, oh the fairer had their ever been. She was still in her twenties, struggling with the loss of her first love.

That weight felt like a smothering pillow above her face, pressing down with a threatening force. She had found this man at a bar. He was a gentleman by all standards and was a bit shy when it came down to it.

Breaking the distance, the woman's thin hand stretched to gingerly touch his shoulder as she turned to face him.

His head snapped to her, pressing a forlorn smile on his rosy face. The low light caught his dark eyes, making them illuminate the emptiness. "Yes, Miss Kagome?"

A crooked grin struck her face as she hid behind her hair. His voice always sounded like the smoothest silk. "You don't have to sit like a bump on a log, Miroku." She said softly, trying to draw out her companion's enthrallment.

Kicking off his patent shoes, he turned to her and loosed the knot in his violet tie. "We both know what we're here for, don't we?" He was somber as his nimble fingers began unbuttoning his white shirt as though it was a chore.

Kagome laughed sadly and felt tears prick her eyes as she pulled her blouse over her head, unromantically.

She thought of how warm InuYasha's fingers had been across her skin all those times he had taken her. Every inch of her burned with the desire to be with him again. It was aching and painful as she stood to unzip her skirt.

Miroku graciously lowered his head, leaving his mussed hair to fall over his face as he slid off his slacks. He felt wayward as a child, raising his eyes to see her diminutive frame nearly bare, with her arms crushed over her chest.

When her long hair hit her shoulders and tumbled down her back, she looked angelic and frail. The idea of spoiling her was so dismal. A small grin curled his lips and he looked at the creasing in the sheets where they had just sat and ran a hand across it.

The nervousness in their bellies made the whole ordeal so strange. It wasn't like when they had fallen in love with their former lovers. It was like watching themselves crash into trains, losing pieces of themselves in the debris.

Kagome's hands slid up and down her arms as she looked down at her stomach, where the light whitened the flesh. Her hair stood on end as Miroku manuvered himself to her, wrapping his long arms around her.

He buried his head in her hair, comforting himself from the winter that held the air outside. Kagome hestitated before violently wrapping her arms around his bare shoulders. Her face hit his soft chest, relishing in the strength in his embrace.

Miroku breathed on her skin, thawing the coldness that laid across her. Her eyes fell as she knew that he was thinking of the woman that got away. Her teeth chewed at her lip as she raised her head to look into his eyes.

There was an emotion swimming across his face that broke her heart. She caught the tears that tried not to form in his eyes and awkwardly placed a kiss on his mouth. "We'll be okay one day, Miroku." She said in a whisper.

Grimacing, he faintly nodded and brought her body down on the mattress. His knees rested in between her legs, hands pressed in the sheets on either side of her mess of hair. "You are beautiful, Kagome." Miroku said.

The girl's hands stroked the sides of his cheeks as she smiled at him in earnest. "You're a handsome fellow, Miroku-sama."

The death that clung to their hearts made the motions steady, methodical. There was no fervor as he leaned down and kissed her soft lips. He had barely headed the bra that she still wore for her own comfort.

He wasn't hers, there was no need to assume that she wanted to expose everything. She felt so different than Sango had. Every time he tousled her around, gripped to her body with his motions, she felt too fragile.

Every ginger kiss he placed across her collar, under her chin... seemed to do nothing to make him forget about Sango. She was the world of worlds, with the life of a thousand souls burning in her eyes.

And as he pushed aside the slit in his boxers, he was hit that there was nothing more to this charade with Kagome than comfort. He couldn't love her, and he knew that she couldn't love him. Their hearts were tangled in another's thread.

Kagome's long legs didn't wrap around his waist as he entered her, pushing her walls and pressuring her lower abdomen. Her breathing hitched, trying her best to enjoy her time with him. Miroku was good man, and deserved to have someone mend his heart.

She wished as, he lowered his head to rest on hers, that she could have had feelings for this man. His eyes were almost lifeless when he caught her gaze. It felt like sex, but with the absence of what made it worth while.

A few moans and grunts slipped passed their lips, and Kagome's arms eventually held his body close to hers to cradle him as though he were injured.

When it was all said and done, they laid there, side by side. He held her small hand against his chest, breathing in the musky scent of the room. Reaching over to his coat on the nightstand, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

Kagome raised her head and sat up, wrapping the sheet around her body as though her state of dress had been important. She watched him hunch over and light his cigarette. The room filled with a murky curl of smoke as she sat in silence.

Both knew that they would return to this same room, at this same hotel in a few days. It had been a routine for weeks now. Sango tasted sweeter on his tongue, and InuYasha had been so much stronger than he was.

The long walk home would separate them as they finally moved to haphazardly dress. Eventually, they would have to move on. Their need was lost amongst a sea of monsters and forgotten lore that would have to be dug up and discovered.

Perhaps, as they stood like shadows in the doorway, they would find what they were looking for in the seasons that followed this dark winter.


End file.
